Deadly Rio Police Raid Exposes the Failure of Law Enforcement and Threatens Regional Stability

The recent police raid in Rio de Janeiro's favelas, which resulted in the deaths of at least 132 individuals including four police officers, starkly reveals how a heavy-handed approach to crime only deepens the cycle of violence and instability—an issue with direct consequences for American interests in regional security. Is This War on Crime or a Campaign of Extrajudicial Killings? Despite claims by Rio state Governor Claudio Castro framing the operation as a successful battle against “narco-terrorism,” eyewitness accounts and community reactions paint a darker picture. Residents describe scenes not of law enforcement restoring order but of near-war carnage marked...